Port Vale travel to Swindon Town this afternoon where John Askey’s men will look to make it back-to-back wins in the league. You can find all of the key information regarding the game, below.
Fixture: Swindon Town v Port Vale
Competition: Sky Bet League Two
Date: Saturday 25th January 2020
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Venue: County Ground
Referee: Craig Hicks
Port Vale
Manager: John Askey
Form: WDWLW
Top Goal Scorer: Tom Pope (7 goals)
Despite today’s opponents currently occupying the top spot in League Two, the Valiants will undoubtedly be heading into this one with confidence after winning three of their last five league games in the division, and can make it successive wins after beating Leyton Orient in their last match.
Askey’s side have been lingering outside of the play-off places for the majority of the season now, and they can move to within just one point of the top-seven with three points this afternoon.
Jake Taylor extended his stay at Port Vale until the end of the season but will remain sidelined for this one through injury. Adam Crookes and Emmanuel Oyeleke are back in training, but neither are match fit as of yet.
“Everyone is fighting for their lives and it's such a competitive league, I think it's just important to get a few wins under our belt and just keep that consistency."
David Amoo, Port Vale Winger
Swindon Town
Manager: Richie Wellens
Form: LWDWL
Top Goal Scorer: Keshi Anderson (6 points)
Swindon’s hopes for automatic promotion have been dealt a massive blow this month as Eoin Doyle and Jerry Yates were both recalled by parent clubs, Bradford City and Rotherham United respectively. The pair had been without doubt two of the Robin’s best performers this campaign with 35 goals between them.
Richie Wellens will be looking for a reaction from his players after they suffered a 2-0 defeat to Newport County on Saturday. The Robins sit six points clear of Plymouth Argyle in fourth place, but the Pilgrims do have two games in hand pose an inferior goal difference.
Swindon may have lost two of their most prolific players this season, but they have made an addition in the form of Hallam Hope from Carlisle United, who will be in contention to play this afternoon.
One to Watch: Keshi Anderson
Keshi Anderson will most likely be Swindon’s biggest goal threat now following the departures of Doyle and Yates, and the Robins’ forward will be looking to add to his six league goals he has this term.
He played his youth football at Watford and Barton Rovers before leaving the latter for Crystal Palace in 2015 where he failed to make a first-team appearance. The 24-year-old then enjoyed loan spells at Doncaster Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Northampton Town and Swindon.
After being at the County Ground for less than six months, Anderson’s loan deal to Swindon was made permanent in January 2018 and has since made over 75 league appearances for the club.
Talk
John Askey: “They’ve got a lot of good players there, but with any team if the two main goal scorers are missing it’s going to affect you.”
Coverage:
iFollow The Vale will be providing full 90-minute commentary from the match, whilst the Port Vale Twitter and Facebook feeds will be providing live updates for the entirety.
There will also be the build-up to the game with the official Snapchat and Instagram accounts: officialpvfc
Reaction will be available on the official website post-match, as well as on YouTube, iFollow and social media.